Ipod shuffle, little piece of brilliance (Apple iPod shuffle (2G) 1 GB)

Member Name: 09jbooth

Product:	Apple iPod shuffle (2G) 1 GB
Date:	17/05/09 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great sound, clip on anywhere, music on the go.

Disadvantages: no screen does put most people off.

Apple's ipod shuffle is a flash memory based mp3 player that you are able to take with you anywhere.

The ipod comes with either 1gb or 2gb of memory available for your music library. 1gb of memory equals about 240 songs which is more then enough for all or most of your music. If you need more storage space then you can buy the 2gd ipod shuffle which means you can carry about 480 songs on the go.

I choose to buy the 1gb as all I needed the ipod for was for the gym and to go jogging. I bought my ipod from Argos for £31. I thought this was a good price for the mp3 which also came with a one year limited warranty in case of damage. The ipod shuffle comes in a variety of different colours. Some of the colours available are blue, green, silver. I decided to go for the blue as it is one of my favourite colours and I didn't want to go for boring silver like I normally do with electrical goods. First thoughts when I first bought the ipod was that it came in a nicely packaged small box which holds everything you will possible need. The box contained the ipod itself, headphones, ipod dock and a booklet that tells you what all the buttons do on the ipod.

To put music on the ipod it says that you have to have itunes installed on your computer, so that was the first thing I did. To do this was very easy, I went to the apple website and downloaded Itunes for free. To put music onto your Ipod you first have to put the music into your itunes library. You can either put the music into the library by buying the music from Itunes themselves. Which is called the Itunes store. You can also put music from a cd into the library, or you can import music already on your computer into the library.

Once I done this I plugged my ipod into the dock supplied with it. The dock itself slots into one of the usb ports. It synced pretty quickly and after registering the ipod with apple I was ready to put songs onto it. To do so I dragged and dropped the songs I wanted in itunes onto my ipod. It put the songs on the ipod very quickly and I was ready to go in no time.

The ipod has very few buttons so even the worst of technophobes will be able to use it. To turn the ipod on you slide the on switch located at the bottom of the ipod. A light blinks on at the side of the ipod to let you no its on. This is also handy if you pause a song and forget its paused this light will blink on and off to let you no. The ipods control system is very easy to navigate as there are so few buttons. There are five buttons to control what song you are listening to and the volume in which you are listening to the song. Buttons are previous track, next track, pause and play, volume up and volume down. The buttons are laid out in a way that makes them very easy to use.

The sound quality is what you expect of and ipod which is outstanding. The quality is crystal clear and with apples headphones it really makes a great music experience. Sound is sharp and I like bass in a mp3 player and this provides a good amount of bass for my needs. The headphones themselves are the best in ear headphones I have ever used. I also like the fact the headphones are what headphones used to be like. By that I mean the length of the headphones are the same, not the headphones where one hadphone is longer then the other. This really annoys me so glad the ipod isn't like that.

The ipod itself is beautifully made with a lovely brushed metal finish and my ipod is a nice blue colour which really makes the ipod stand out. One of the reasons I choose the ipod was beacuse of the fact it had a clip. The clip is a very handy tool to have. You can clip the ipod anywhere possible. On your bag, sleeve, belt, pretty much anywhere. The clips good as well as I use the ipod to jog and I used to use a mp3 player that went into my pocket. While I was jogging this was not very good as it rattled in my pocket and was very tricky to change the track. But with the clip the ipod stays in place which makes it alot easier and quicker to change the track. At first I thought the clip might break with the strain but its very well made and sturdy and robust. With my old mp3 I also had the problem of when I was jogging it the sound quality would decrease dramatically which made me very angry. The ipod doesn't have a problem like this so you have great music experience on the go.

The only thing that many don't like about the ipod shuffle is the fact that it doesn't have a screen. I knew this before I bought it and I'm not at all disappointed about this. All I use the ipod for is exercise etc so I don't need a screen to look at so this ipod works wonderfully in my favour. If you need a screen to look at then this is not the mp3 for you. If you need an mp3 just to listen to music to on the go then this is absolutely the best mp3 for you. You don't just have to exercise to use the ipod you can use on the tube on the way to work etc.

The ipod itself is very quick at processing if you want to go to the next track and does this instantaneously. The ipod can have either mp3 or AAC music on it.

The ipod takes four hours to fully charge and you charge the ipod through the computer by plugging ipod into the dock supplied. Four hours is quite along time but the battery when fully charged lasts about 12 hours which is alot in such a small device.

Overall this ipod I think is a break through in the mp3 industry. The device is great if you need for the needs I need it for. Lack of screen puts most people off but it takes very little time to remeber what track comes after the next. This can also become quite fun guessing which track comes after the other. The ipod is beautifully made and finished to the highest standard.

Summary: Ipod shuffle is the future of mp3's.

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